In the month of March he sailed for Spithead, where he arrived on the very day that orders were given to prepare for war; and on that same day he met with a serious accident, by a block falling on his head, which occasioned a severe wound, and a concussion of the brain. Of this event, the following record has been found from the pen of Captain Brenton, written a few days after this period; when his wife had mentioned the christening of his son. “The ship being ready for sea, I was obliged to leave my beloved Isabella and her darling infant, in order to proceed to Portsmouth, to fit for foreign service. She was to join me there as soon as she should be able to travel. The weather was extremely severe; a succession of gales rendered our passage a very long one. It was the 12th of March before I reached Spithead; and on that day a severe trial befel my inestimable wife, by a wound which I received on the head, by a block falling on me. The accident was considered so serious as to be reported to the Admiralty by telegraph; and a Captain was immediately appointed to act for me; the ship being required on the coast of Holland, in consequence of an armament taking place in that quarter. To prevent any alarming reports reaching my beloved Isabella, I sent off a midshipman to give her an account of what had happened. Her feelings received a severe shock, but her resolution was soon formed, and in a few hours she was with me at Portsmouth,—my tender nurse—my inestimable companion—and this she continued to be during the whole course of her invaluable life; the soother of all my cares and sufferings; making adversity itself a period marked by bright gleams of happiness. With her dear society, and that of her sweet infant, my mind was soon at rest. The wound though severe, and apparently dangerous, was soon in a favourable state; and every serious symptom vanished, through the kind and protecting care of divine providence.